Prime Minister Scott Morrision has been to Williamtown four times this year, but he has not found time to call in on residents whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by PFAS contamination from the government's RAAF base.
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Lindsay Clout told Friday's hearing of the PFAS sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade that Red Zone residents had become "financial lepers" who had been left to fend for themselves.
Despite a $100million investment to clean up PFAS contamination around Williamtown RAAF base in recent years, the Department of Defence admits contamination levels remain largely unchanged.
"The report on my property clean-up is zero. Not one gram of contaminated soil or one litre of contaminated water has been removed from my property," Mr Clout told the hearing.
"People I have spoken to in the community in preparation for this report are the same - zero."
Aside from settling a class action against the government for the impact of PFAS contamination on their property values, Mr Clout said in most respects the community had gone backwards in the past two years.
The community blood testing program has been discontinued, the community reference group that provided direct access to the Department of Defence and government officials has been disbanded and a mental health clinic at Fern Bay has been closed.
Residents are still unable to eat produce grown on their land.
"I really feel like we are at the crossroads today," Mr Clout said.
"To turn right the sign reads the multimillion dollar PFAS clean up has successfully removed the toxic chemical from your groundwater and soil and all of the restrictions imposed in 2015 are lifted.
"To turn left the sign says the clean up of PFAS has been unable to clean up the toxic contamination in your community and we will follow the recommendations from both parliamentary inquiries and introduce a buy back scheme to allow residents to relocate.
"The third option is to continue straight ahead as we have done for the last six years. The sign reads 'no satisfactory outcome in sight'.
"Continue with committees and inquiries; continue kicking the can down the road and leave us to fend for ourselves."
Paterson MP and committee deputy chair Meryl Swanson said it was obvious that efforts to clean up the contamination had not benefited the community.
"There is a whole taskforce working on this but no one seems to know what it's doing. If it is doing anything [the community] is certainly not reaping the benefits," she said.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi asked Red Zone resident Jenny Robinson if she could nominate one area which would result in positive change for affected residents.
"If you can't clean it up we need like for like. At the moment, I've looked around and there just doesn't seem to be anywhere I can go," she said.
"Unfortunately because of the current market value due to the contamination I will never find anywhere else to live."
Department of Defence Deputy Secretary Celia Perkins told the hearing that PFAS contamination was and would remain a highly complex issue requiring evidence-based and nationally consistent responses.
"We acknowledge that PFAS is a serious concern for the community. We have been listening to the hearing and those that testified earlier... we hear your concerns," she said.
The Department of Defence will hold a community drop-in session at Singleton on December 7 and Williamtown on December 8.
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